Kitschiest Roadside Attractions in America

Sometimes the journey is the destination, as our kitschy roadside attractions prove.

Sometimes the journey is the destination, as our kitschy roadside attractions prove.

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Jessica SuJessica Adamiak

August 30, 2011

The landscape blurs as you drive Interstate 80 straight through Nebraska. Then suddenly you do a double take. Right in front of you is an old-timey Western trading post, sitting in the shadow of a 30-foot-tall cutout of Buffalo Bill.

It just wouldn’t be a great American road trip without kitschy roadside attractions like the Fort Cody Trading Post in North Platte. Some of the earliest got their start in the 1920s, when the birth of the U.S. highway system set off a building boom. Drivers had to stop to refuel or rest, after all, and enterprising businessmen were eager to dream up attractions that would meet their needs and liven up life on the road.

Sometimes the winning concept started small. Wall Drug, now a world-famous attraction in rural South Dakota, was on the verge of closing in 1936 when founder Ted Hustead’s wife suggested advertising free ice water. At the time, every drugstore gave away ice water, but adding a sign was enough to attract droves of customers. Wall Drug eventually added thousands more signs and a giant animatronic T. rex, expanding from a pharmacy into a mall and theme park.

“A big part of roadside attractions is making the biggest whatever. People take this really seriously,” says Mark Sedenquist, who founded RoadTrip America with his wife, Megan Edwards. After they lost their home in a 1993 wildfire, they embarked on an epic drive that lasted more than six years and inspired their chronicles of roadside attractions.

These days, it’s never been easier to locate kitschy roadside attractions, thanks to GPS devices and dedicated websites. Even if you know what’s coming, it can’t ruin the cheap thrill and nostalgic appeal of braking at a corn palace.

And there’s always a souvenir to take home. Doug Kirby remembers being so fascinated by the petrified wood he got at Wall Drug as a boy that he lugged it around for his entire vacation. As an adult, he founded the website Roadside America, which covers more than 9,000 oddball attractions.

“Some people visit these places to make fun of them,” admits Kirby, “but you know you like them deep down.” —Jessica Su

Sometimes the journey is the destination, as our kitschy roadside attractions prove.

The landscape blurs as you drive Interstate 80 straight through Nebraska. Then suddenly you do a double take. Right in front of you is an old-timey Western trading post, sitting in the shadow of a 30-foot-tall cutout of Buffalo Bill.

It just wouldn’t be a great American road trip without kitschy roadside attractions like the Fort Cody Trading Post in North Platte. Some of the earliest got their start in the 1920s, when the birth of the U.S. highway system set off a building boom. Drivers had to stop to refuel or rest, after all, and enterprising businessmen were eager to dream up attractions that would meet their needs and liven up life on the road.

Sometimes the winning concept started small. Wall Drug, now a world-famous attraction in rural South Dakota, was on the verge of closing in 1936 when founder Ted Hustead’s wife suggested advertising free ice water. At the time, every drugstore gave away ice water, but adding a sign was enough to attract droves of customers. Wall Drug eventually added thousands more signs and a giant animatronic T. rex, expanding from a pharmacy into a mall and theme park.

“A big part of roadside attractions is making the biggest whatever. People take this really seriously,” says Mark Sedenquist, who founded RoadTrip America with his wife, Megan Edwards. After they lost their home in a 1993 wildfire, they embarked on an epic drive that lasted more than six years and inspired their chronicles of roadside attractions.

These days, it’s never been easier to locate kitschy roadside attractions, thanks to GPS devices and dedicated websites. Even if you know what’s coming, it can’t ruin the cheap thrill and nostalgic appeal of braking at a corn palace.

And there’s always a souvenir to take home. Doug Kirby remembers being so fascinated by the petrified wood he got at Wall Drug as a boy that he lugged it around for his entire vacation. As an adult, he founded the website Roadside America, which covers more than 9,000 oddball attractions.

“Some people visit these places to make fun of them,” admits Kirby, “but you know you like them deep down.” —Jessica Su

Mitchell Corn Palace, Mitchell, SD

Established in 1892 and existing at its current location since 1921, this showstopper—the only building of its kind—celebrates the harvest of king corn. The building exterior is redecorated annually with 275,000 ears of colored corn, other grains, and grasses. Themes have included Lewis and Clark; the space age; and historic figures such as Elvis Presley and Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive away with your corn memento of choice: popcorn, Corn Palace puzzles, or corn-cob jelly. —Jessica Su

Skunk-Ape Research Center, Ochopee, FL

Conspiracy theorists are welcome at the world’s only skunk-ape research center, dedicated to the Everglades’ version of Bigfoot. Reportedly measuring six feet tall, these elusive bipeds reek of rotten eggs. Owner Dave Shealy, who has studied the creatures nearly his entire life, sells DVDs, camouflage hats, and tracking guides. While Shealy says the government prohibits him from leading tours in the surrounding Big Cypress National Preserve, he will point visitors to the general vicinity of the skunk-ape habitat. Don’t miss annual traditions such as Skunktoberfest and the Miss Skunk Ape contest, where women compete to answer questions from Shealy’s guide. This year’s prize was a six-foot-long banana. —Jessica Su

Fort Cody Trading Post, North Platte, NE

Nebraska’s largest souvenir and Western gift shop is dedicated to “Buffalo Bill” Cody, who slayed 4,280 buffalo from 1867 to 1868. The store is connected to a free Old West Museum, which features a two-headed calf from the 1940s and a miniature replica of Buffalo Bill’s traveling circus show—a couple whittled 20,000 pieces for the replica over 12 years. But perhaps the strangest sight is the customers: it’s not unusual to see adults donning headdresses and dancing around the store, beating drums and waving around toy tomahawks. Many are repeat visitors. As co-owner Leigh Henline says, “A person will burst through the door, take a deep breath, and announce, ‘Yes, it still smells like I remember it as a kid!’” —Jessica Su

Da Yoopers Tourist Trap, Ishpeming, MI

For the uninitiated, a Yooper is someone who lives in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (the U.P.), which is covered in snow nearly half the year. Da Yoopers Tourist Trap is a celebration of hinterland innovations, including Big Ernie, the world’s largest working rifle (35 feet and 4,000 pounds) and Da Two-Holer Outhouse. Don’t leave without a tchotchke from the gift shop—everything from bullet-hole stickers (which promise to “impress the babes”) to belly-button lint brushes. —Jessica Su

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6 of 35David Crone

Vent Haven Museum, Fort Mitchell,KY

All eyes are on you at the world’s only ventriloquist (“vent” for short) museum, home to more than 750 googly-eyed dummies. Figures are as varied as Miss Piggy and a carved head that a POW performed with to earn extra food. Founder William Shakespeare Berger purchased the very first figure, Tommy Baloney, in 1910. When he died, he donated his collection and property to create the museum. It’s open by appointment only, May through September, so this is one roadside stop that requires a little advance planning. —Jessica Su

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7 of 35John Schrantz

Wall Drug Store, Wall, SD

The anticipation starts long before you arrive at Wall Drug, a Western-themed mall/amusement park near Mount Rushmore and the Badlands. Signs posted throughout the world count down the remaining miles to go; there’s even a sign for Wall Drug posted in Antarctica (for the record, only about 9,300 miles away). Wall Drug started as a humble pharmacy that doled out free ice water to weary travelers. Today, 2.2 million people a year pull over to ogle at the animatronic T. rex and see the animated Chuck Wagon Quartet (one of the figures resembles Ronald Reagan); chuckle at a piano-playing, singing gorilla; and sit atop a giant jackalope statue. And yes, the ice water’s still free. —Jessica Su

The Thing?, Dragoon, AZ

It came from a freak show…or outer space…or the swamp. Whatever it is, some 500 billboards throughout Arizona and New Mexico beckon you toward The Thing. For a $1 fee, you can see the “mystery of the desert,” plus other questionable things like a 1937 Rolls-Royce allegedly owned by Hitler. The gift shop hawks chicken statues wearing Confederate flags, horsehair pottery (a Native American art form in which horsehair is singed onto vases), and coonskin hats. —Jessica Su

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9 of 35BAR Photography

South of the Border, Dillon, SC

If the Three Amigos had their own theme park, it might resemble South of the Border. With roughly 175 highway billboards (one promises, “You’re always a weiner [sic] at Pedro’s!”) and a 97-foot marquee of mascot Pedro at the entrance, SOB is impossible to miss. Fourteen gift shops carry schlock like a Fabio cardboard cutout and enough fireworks to blow the world over. The main attractions are the Pedroland amusement park and Reptile Lagoon, but a sombrero-shaped tower that hosts occasional weddings and an allegedly haunted motel room add to the kitsch factor. —Jessica Su

Villisca Ax Murder House, Villisca, IA

Shortly after midnight on June 10, 1912, a vicious murderer bludgeoned Josiah Moore’s family of six and two guests as they slept. The crime remains unsolved, but visitors say the house is trying to communicate, if you dare venture inside. Tours have been cut short by flying objects and eerie children’s voices. For $400, up to six guests can stay overnight (additional guests are $70); there is no electricity or plumbing, but heat is available. If you prefer to keep a safe distance, you can mail-order “haunted dirt” from the house’s foundation and “Love Lies Bleeding” seeds—the scarlet plant unexpectedly bloomed for two years during the house’s restoration. —Jessica Su

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11 of 35Amy Rubey Lencowski

SPAM Museum, Austin, MN

This irreverent museum is all that and a can of SPAM. Look for a wall lined with 3,390 cans, an exhibit on SPAM’s role in feeding the Allied troops, a Monty Python area that shows a menu and clips from the infamous skit, and a mock factory where visitors compete to package SPAM in record time. The gift shop sells 12 SPAM varieties, including bacon flavored and a spreadable version. Help yourself to free samples, or head across the street to Johnny’s diner for a meal from the SPAMarama menu. —Jessica Su

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12 of 35Courtesy of Precious Moments Chapel

Precious Moments Park, Carthage, MO

Biblical murals depicting children cartoon characters: awe inspiring, cheesy, or downright sacrilegious? It depends on your taste. Sam Butcher, the artist who created the doe-eyed Precious Moments figurines, opened this church in 1989. Nearly 5,000 square feet of Butcher’s hand-painted murals show the Precious Moments characters in scenes from Noah’s Ark and The Second Coming. The Hallelujah Square painting is based on real children who died young and are making their way into heaven. In this alternate universe, no adults are depicted, save Jesus. The park also includes a garden and the world’s largest Precious Moments gift shop. —Jessica Su

Eagles Landing Flying J, Scipio, UT

When this gas station opened in 2005, residents of Scipio (population: 300) came by just to check out the high-speed hand dryers. Then last year the station installed something far more exciting: a free petting zoo with fainting goats that keel over when they’re startled; “Easter egg chickens” that lay green, brown, and pink eggs; emus; llamas; peacocks; a zebra; alpacas; sheep; horses; rabbits; and ducks. By some miracle, several of the animals coexist in the same pen. —Jessica Su

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14 of 35Courtesy of Cockroad Hall of Fame Museum

Cockroach Hall of Fame Museum,Plano, TX

Since the late 1980s, Michael Bohdan has run The Pest Shop, Inc, a pest control company that also operates the free Cockroach Hall of Fame Museum in a Plano, Texas, strip mall. Visitors can gawk at display after display of dead cockroaches dressed up like celebrities, for instance, “Liberoachi” and “Marilyn Monroach.” —Jessica Adamiak

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15 of 35David Sanger Photography / Alamy

Weeki Wachee Springs State Park,Spring Hill, FL

A throwback to the 1950s, Weeki Wachee Springs still puts on its famous, campy mermaid shows performed underwater by swimmers in elaborate costumes. There’s an old-school charm to the park, where you can take a river cruise (look out for manatees and turtles), go diving, slide down the Cannonball slide, or just hang out at the tiki bar. —Jessica Adamiak

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16 of 35John Preble / Courtesy of Abita Mystery House

Abita Mystery House, AbitaSprings, LA

Most people throw away their garbage. Then there’s artist John Preble, who builds crazy contraptions out of found objects that are on display at The Abita Mystery House. Come see his marble machine constructed out of thousands of popsicle sticks, hot glue sticks, pinball machine parts and plumbing supplies. Or take in his tributes to nearby New Orleans: a Mardi Gras parade and a jazz funeral. —Jessica Adamiak

Prairie Dog Town, Oakley, KS

Sometimes a name tells you all you need to know. Prairie Dog Town is home to hundreds of prairie dogs, including one it declares to be the world's largest. But it also boasts a pit of rattlesnakes, a freakish six-legged steer, and a gift shop filled with lacquered wall clocks of John Wayne and Dale Earnhart Sr. —Jessica Adamiak

Leila's Hair Museum, Independence,MO

Cosmetologist Leila Cahoon has amassed 159 wreaths and more than 2,000 pieces of jewelry containing, or made entirely of, human hair. Many were framed as keepsakes, and there are hair wreaths from two sisters whose heads were shaved when they entered a convent. You can tour Cahoon's one-of-a-kind collection for $5, and, if so inspired, pick up a calendar with photos of her favorite items. —Jessica Adamiak

Devil’s Rope Museum, McLean, TX

The “rope” on display here is actually barbed wire—7,000 specimens including rare strips of wire worth as much as $1,800. Exhibits detail barbed wire’s uses in ranching, security, and battle and include sculptures made of the thorny wires. The museum has fielded over 100,000 visitors since it opened in 1990 in a former bra factory near a strip of long-abandoned Route 66 in the Texas panhandle. —Jessica Adamiak

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20 of 35Andre Jenny / Alamy

Foamhenge,Natural Bridge, VA

It started, naturally, as an April Fool’s joke in 2004. But local artist Mark Cline’s Foamhenge has staying power. It’s an exact replica of the England’s ancient man-made wonder—even the pieces are arranged in their astronomically correct positions. Snap some photos and play your own April Fool’s joke trying to pass it off as the real thing. —Jessica Adamiak

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21 of 35Litandmore / Flickr

Hot Dog Bun Museum, Toledo, OH

Owner Tony Packo one-ups the tried-and-true habit of hanging autographed celebrity photos on a restaurant’s walls. Instead of photos, he asks celeb guests to sign hot dog buns—it started with Burt Reynolds in the early 1970s and has become a tradition. Look for enshrined buns with John Hancocks of everyone from Kenny G to presidential candidates. —Jessica Adamiak

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22 of 35Franck Fotos / Alamy

Ben and Jerry’sFlavor Graveyard, Waterbury, VT

Rather than simply retiring unsuccessful flavors like White Russian and Wild Maine Blueberry, popular ice-cream brand Ben and Jerry’s immortalizes in a graveyard behind the company’s factory. Explore the headstones and decide for yourself which discontinued flavor was the most “tragic” loss. —Jessica Adamiak

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23 of 35Courtesy of The Longaberger Company

World’s LargestBasket, Newark, OH

How many people get to say they wake up each morning and head to work in a giant basket? Five hundred, to be exact. The Longaberger Basket Company’s seven-story corporate headquarters is a brick-and-mortar replica of the company’s popular Medium Market Basket—just 160 times longer, wider and taller. The building’s basket handles are heated to prevent ice from forming in the winter. —Jessica Adamiak

Graceland Too, Holly Springs, MS

All kinds of kitsch related to the King of Rock and Roll is stuffed into Graceland Too: photos, records, figurines, cardboard cutouts, even 185,000 square inches of carpet from the real Graceland. Paul MacLeod, a retired autoworker who named his son Elvis Aaron Presley McLeod, gives tours of his home around the clock for visitors from everywhere from England to Japan. —Jessica Adamiak

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25 of 35Franck Fotos / Alamy

World’s LargestBall of Twine, Cawker City, KS

Dream big is a common piece of advice. Well, Frank A. Stoeber set out to accomplish his dream back in 1953. Eight years later, when his twine ball had become over eight feet high, he entrusted it on to his fellow Cawker City residents, who have made sure it continues to grow. Every August the residents hold a parade and a “twine-a-thon.” Currently, the ball is 40 feet in circumference and weighs a mind-bending 17,980 lbs. —Jessica Adamiak

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26 of 35Franck Fotos / Alamy

Jimmy Carter Peanut, Plains, GA

It’s not uncommon for former presidents to have statues built in their honor. This 13-foot-tall specimen pays a fitting, if unusual, tribute to our 39th president, who was once a peanut farmer. The sculpture was erected in 1976 during Carter’s first presidential campaign. No word on how he felt about its goofy (almost creepy) big-toothed grin. —Jessica Adamiak

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27 of 35Corey Schmmel / Alamy

London Bridge,Lake Havasu City, AZ

Unlike many American roadside attractions, this bridge isn’t a copy or parody, it’s the real deal. The original London Bridge—which by the mid 20th-century was no longer able handle the volume of daily traffic across the Thames—was auctioned off to an Arizona oil baron. In 1971, he spent over $7 million to have the bridge dismantled and reconstructed in Lake Havasu City. —Jessica Adamiak

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28 of 35Courtesy of The Beer Can House

The Beer Can House, Houston, TX

Over 18 years, retired upholsterer John Milkovisch attached about 50,000 flattened beer cans to the outside of his home. Strings of aluminum lids dangle from the façade fluttering in the breeze like wind chimes. All this might sound like a quirky recycling project, but the house is considered by many architects to be an outstanding example of folk art. Milkovisch seemed proud of his outsider status, stating: “Some people say this is sculpture, but I didn’t go to no expensive school to get these crazy notions.” —Jessica Adamiak

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29 of 35David Ball / Alamy

Roswell UFO Museum, Roswell,NM

According to the rumors, a flying saucer crashed into the ground near Roswell, New Mexico in 1947, and spacecraft debris and alien bodies were promptly recovered—and hidden—by the military. This museum is about supporting that version of events, and should entertain believers and non-believers alike. —Jessica Adamiak

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30 of 35Steppenwolf / Alamy

World’s Largest Santa Claus; North Pole, AK

True, North Pole, Alaska, isn't at the actual North Pole, but the town still receives letters from kids each Christmas—and can’t resist making the most out of its name. Locals built a 42-foot, 900-pound Santa Claus for the 1962 World’s Fair in Seattle. He made it home to North Pole in 1983, where he has been charming (and terrifying) small children ever since. —Jessica Adamiak

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31 of 35Franck Fotos / Alamy

The Spud Drive-In,Driggs, ID

This classic drive-in movie theater has been screening films since the summer of 1953. But the drive-in’s kitsch factor doesn’t come from its big screen. Rather it’s a two-ton potato sculpture that rests on the bed of Old Murphy, a 1946 Chevy truck. Travelers from around the world have stopped by the tiny town of Driggs, Idaho just to photograph it. Pick up a huckleberry milkshake or fries before hitting the road. —Jessica Adamiak

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32 of 35Jeff Greenberg / Alamy

The UnclaimedBaggage Center, Scottsboro, AL

Ever wonder where lost airline luggage lands if no one bothers to claim it? Appalachia, it turns out. Part haphazard museum of junk and kitsch, part bargain shopper’s paradise, the Unclaimed Baggage Center is a place to rummage through other people’s abandoned belongings (nail clippers, yoga jackets, bowling pins)—and purchase them at a steep discount. —Jessica Adamiak

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33 of 35Jeff Smith / Alamy

Dr. Evermor’s Forevertron, Sumpter, WI

Behind Delaney’s Surplus closeout store lurks a roughly 300-ton metal sculpture built from scraps of industrial age machinery and designed for, well, space travel. Incredibly, it is the world’s largest kinetic sculpture, one that Tom O. Every, known as “Dr. Evermor,” designed without the help of blueprints. It’s one in a series of imposing sculptures out back, including Bird Band (string instruments on wiry legs). —Jessica Adamiak

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34 of 35Alison G. Weber

The Oregon Vortex, Gold Hill, OR

Natural wonder, elaborate hoax, or paranormal zone? At the Oregon Vortex, it’s up to visitors to decide. For $9.75, you get to experience the Vortex’s “spherical field of force,” which results in a world in which brooms supposedly stand up by themselves and two people can become a different height just by switching places. —Jessica Adamiak

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35 of 35Eric Schucard

Museum of Hoaxes,San Diego, CA

Hoaxes have inspired some of the kitschiest roadside attractions. Well, here’s a museum that takes them on, decoding hundreds of hoaxes and urban legends under one roof. It features a historical wing, a gallery of April Fool’s Day hoaxes, and a Tall-Tale Creature Gallery. (No, the jackalope is not a real animal.) You can even take a test before touring the museum to determine how gullible you truly are. —Jessica Adamiak